5 myths about smoking and MS

The evidence is clearer than ever: smoking can make your MS worse. It can speed up how fast you become disabled. It can also mean more and bigger lesions and more relapses.

We know giving up smoking can be really hard whether you have MS or not. And there’s a lot of misinformation out there. So we’ve reviewed the evidence to bust the top 5 myths about smoking and MS.

1. Smoking is good for stress

Research has found people who smoke actually have higher stress levels than those who don’t.

It also suggests the relaxing effect of smoking you feel is actually the reversal of the tension and irritability that develops between cigarettes. So smoking a cigarette is just taking you back to feeling normal.

The good news is that studies found that stopping smoking can actually reduce feelings of anxiety and depression in the long run.

2. Smoking shisha or vaping e-cigarettes is fine

There's a growing body of evidence that vaping causes less harm to your overall health compared to smoking. But we're still unsure of its effects on MS. Vaping itself may be harmful for your MS, but more research is needed

3. My DMT shields me from the effects of smoking

Disease modifying treatments (DMTs) can reduce relapses and slow down disease progression. But research shows smoking actually reduces effectiveness for at least some of them. So not only will taking a DMT not protect you from the effects of smoking, smoking itself could make the DMT work less well.

4. Smoking cannabis to relieve my symptoms is okay right?

There is evidence that smoking cannabis, especially when mixed with tobacco, causes harm to people with MS. And we don’t currently know if vaping cannabis is any better. Cannabis can be taken in other ways (like by mouth in oils or sprays).